• ⚽ Brazilian Soccer Star’s “Fun” New Cocktail Brand
• 🏒 BodyArmor Hits the Ice
• 🤝 Condesa Gin Secures Spirit of Gallo Support
• 🚚 Distribution: The Latest Moves From Betty Booze, Play Hard And More
• 🥃 Details On The Diddy and Diageo Drama

From flavored water, tea drinks, and sodas to beer, wine, and spirits. Döhler offers a wide range of Citrus, Fruity, Botanical, and many other flavors. Enhanced by a comprehensive Taste Modulation portfolio, these solutions create our sensory journey. DÖHLER – WE BRING IDEAS TO LIFE® Learn more

You can’t rush great tequila or mezcal: agave needs at least six to seven years before it matures for harvest. That also means that supply is cyclical: when tequila is in high demand, farmers overplant in response, leaving a glut of crops about a decade later. 

Prices are now reflecting that surplus and the IWSR expects price drops to continue. New agave growers looking to cash in on the tequila boom in recent years have put an abundance of new plants into the ground. So what does this mean for the industry? 

Expect to see more affordable, 100% agave brands entering the market, analysts said. Yipes, more tequila? We thought a supermodel spinoff of a top celebrity brand, a blatant antidote attempt, and a Guy Fieri mezcal-tequila mashup – all launched in a two week span – was the peak.

Consumers have, in fact, started to trade down, which means there could be a demand for lower-priced, but premium-positioned tequila (a Tito’s moment, as dubbed by analysts). 

The IWSR also predicts that the extra cash from lower agave prices could lead brand owners to invest in building awareness for agave spirits in emerging markets, which many brands are already doing as tequila sales have begun to flatten in the U.S. The chairman of Clase Azul shared that the brand has seen positive growth trends in Europe and Asia. Major strategics have also begun marketing abroad, Teremena Tequila too. 

But the category still faces a long road in Europe, just as it took years of agave spirit education in the U.S. to change tequila’s party drink reputation. Spain and Germany follow the U.S. in liters of exports, and are down 7.1% and 21.9%, respectively last year, according to the Tequila Regulatory Council. Small markets like France and the U.K., however, did see increases of 16.2% and 6.8%. 

The fluctuations matter most to those that have low self-sufficiency ratios when it comes to supply, said Javier Gonzalez Lastra, investment partner at Tema ETFs, an investment advisor and management firm. Campari’s Espolón, for example, may see the most benefit as they are the least vertically-integrated of the major spirit groups, and may let a big part of this windfall flow down to margins. 

Lastra’s bet is that Campari may invest in marketing support and securing supply for the long term by purchasing land rather than cutting retail prices. Other larger brands may do the same. In the past, that has driven up the cost for locals and can make competition more difficult for smaller brands. How that land will be managed also hits on another persistent issue for agave spirits: sustainability and economic justice for those at the beginning of the supply chain. 

The ongoing challenge of how to align supply with demand is part of that – when surpluses hit, abandoned agave can allow surrounding fields to be attacked by pests and disease. Even more reason to savor your next sip. 

Go Deeper: The Margarita Remains As America's Top Cocktail.

Here’s just a few items spotted from an already busy week of new releases:

🍹 “Feels like vacation,” indeed: Tropical Bliss is the latest release from Recess Mood (non-CBD), featuring notes of pineapple, mango and passion fruit. 

💧 In case you haven’t heard, canned water is still big in Texas right now: Waterloo is launching a three-SKU flavored still water line in 12 oz. cans. 

🫖 Boston Beer’s low-dose, THC-infused iced tea TeaPot (Canada only) has a new flavor: Blackberry Rooibos, the second in its relaxation-focused “Good Evening” line. 

🔥 Spicy margaritas are trending up: after Casamigos launched a jalapeño infused tequila last week, Q Mixers followed with its launch of Spicy Mango Margarita Mix, a complement to its existing Spicy Grapefruit Margarita Mix. 

⚡ You can now grab a 12 oz. can of ZOA’s latest flavor, Mango Splash, but only at 7-Eleven. 

Neymar is the latest professional soccer star to get into the bev-alc business with the launch of cocktail/mocktail company Fun Brands. The Miami-based brand house has not released any details on its first product yet but a press release described the offerings as “low-sugar, low-calorie beverages” in low-to-no alcohol formats.

🇧🇷 Brazilian-born Neymar said he is excited to share “the flavors of Brazil” with consumers with profiles that speak to the lifestyle and tastes of his home country.

🎉 Fun Brands will be led by Joe Peleg, founder and CEO of Fun Wine. Peleg’s wine brand makes low-sugar, flavored wine beverages and is backed by chief culture officer Christina Aguilera.

🥂 Neymar’s venture with Fun Brands follows the announcement that Argentine superstar Lionel Messi has joined White Claw maker Mark Anthony Brands to develop a larger portfolio of non-alcoholic offerings including a new hydration beverage.

Just in time for playoffs, the National Hockey League as well as the NHL Players’ Association, have named Coca-Cola’s BodyArmor as its new Official Sports Drink partner. The multi-year deal will drop its first activation on Saturday, April 20, the first game of the 2024 Stanley Cup.

🥅 BodyArmor will be served to players on the bench at games and practices as well in locker rooms, the brand logo will be featured on rink hydration stations, towels and benches, and, of course, there will be plenty of media content and collaborations.

🏚️ BodyArmor usurps struggling sports drink brand BioSteel as the NHL’s official partner. BioSteel had signed a similar agreement in 2022, but the business was derailed last year after the SEC investigated it for overstating sales. Its prior owner, Canopy Growth, sold off BioSteel in a court-supervised sale in November.

⚽ And it marks another league-wide goal for BodyArmor. Earlier this year the brand partnered with U.S. Soccer and, in 2019, it also signed a multi-year agreement to be the Official Sports Drink of Major League Soccer.

Spirit of Gallo has brought in a Mexican spirit to its portfolio, but it’s not made from agave. 

💐 The spirits supplier behind High Noon has made a strategic investment in Mexico City’s Condesa Gin, which it will also import, the company announced yesterday. 

🌵 The super premium gin brand, named for one of Mexico City’s hottest neighborhoods, contributes to a wave of Mexican spirits and beverages entering the U.S. beyond agave spirits. 

📈 For Spirit of Gallo, Condesa, which carries an MSRP of $40/bottle, also presents an opportunity to tap into the high-end gin segment, which is the only price bracket showing growth. The ultra segment ($35+) was up +19% in the last 52-weeks, ending March 23, in off-premise outlets, according to NIQ. 

Read the full story on BevNET.

Our latest distribution roundup finds Sunshine Punch and Betty Booze signing on for national distribution with one of the big guys, while two colorful vodka seltzers make moves into new territories. 

☀️ Sunshine Punch — the ready-to-serve cocktail inspired by a creamsicle —  has signed a national distribution deal with Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits (SGWS). Sunshine is one of a few independent RTS brands going after the premium and beyond price bracket, where the segment is finding some growth.

⚾ Play Hard vodka seltzer, the RTD from a spirits incubator led by Marc Bushala (the person behind Angel’s Envy and Bob Dylan’s Heaven’s Door Spirits) is expanding into Illinois and scored a partnership with the White Sox.

🏳️‍🌈 Gay Water, the canned vodka soda named for a popular cocktail in queer bars, has extended its Total Wine & More partnership to 41 locations in California, just in time for Pride Month.

Read the full story on BevNET.

Back in January, after nearly nine months of an ugly public legal battle, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Diageo settled a dispute over allegations that the brands the music mogul collaborated with Diageo on – Cîroc Vodka and DeLeon Tequila – received worse treatment because of his race. Diageo then became the sole owner of DeLeon, and now we know how much it cost them. 

• In a report to investors, the spirits giant disclosed it sold its half of the brand for $200 million.
• The dispute became more complicated after the spirits company used sexual assault lawsuits against the music mogul to bolster its case. 
• Since then Combs’ has faced more allegations and legal challenges, with Homeland Security raiding his homes as part of a human trafficking investigation.

🆕 Diageo has since added a new celebrity to its roster: Cindy Crawford, who recently added a new Jalapeño SKU to her husband Rande Gerber’s Casamigos Tequila lineup.

Elizabeth Stein, the founder/CEO of better-for-you granola and breakfast brand Purely Elizabeth, explains how to create something that retail buyers perceive as unique and incremental to a category, her two most important considerations when raising capital, and the impact of hiring the "right" people.

Listen to the latest episode here.